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Ministry to mediate fee dispute

The Ministry of Education has taken an initiative to resolve the problem between private schools and student unions over school fees.

The student unions affiliated to ruling and opposition political parties have been staging a protest, demanding the withdrawal of the recent fee hike. They have threatened to obstruct the classes in all the private schools across the country unless they rolled back their decisions by Sunday. However, the Private and Boarding School Organisation Nepal (Pabson) and Npabsan have been claiming that private schools cannot survive if there is no increment in the tuition fee. The private schools have increased their fees between 11 to 41 percent, with a 22 percent rise in most of the Kathmandu-based schools. The ministry has called an all-party meeting on Sunday to resolve the differences.

The private schools have been claiming that the student unions are politicising the issue, arguing that they raised the fees based on the existing legal provision. “It is not justifiable to ask for withdrawal as the fees have been hiked after three years,” said Pabson Chairman Lachhe Bahadur KC. In 2012, the Supreme Court had directed private schools to raise fees once in three years. The students union, however, claim the increment is unscientific and is made under pressure of umbrella bodies.

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